This blog post also is available in German.
Summertime is baked potato time? What do you think? For me, baked potato time is all year round, whether it’s barbecue season or not. Why? First, because the combination of steaming potatoes and cold herb quark is unbeatable. Secondly, because there is no simpler dish that can be prepared with so little effort. Thirdly because this delicious tuber is in season all year round and fourthly because baked potatoes are a great recipe for using up leftovers. Not enough reasons to convince you to give this herb curd with baked potatoes a chance?
No problem, I still have something in stock for you. In today’s blog post I’ll tell you a useful tip on how you can save a lot of time when preparing baked potatoes. With this little tip you don’t have to wait an eternity until the potato is cooked. Perfect for the quick dinner during weedays. You don’t have to worry about the herb quark either, it’s ready within 5 minutes anyway. By the way, did you know that you can prepare potatoes in the oven or on the grill more sustainably than with aluminium foil? You can also read about how to do this here. Do I have your full attention now? Perfect, then we’ll start right away…
Perfect baked potatoes guaranteed.
The preparation of the perfect baked potato begins with the selection of the right potato variety. Basically there are three different types of potatoes; waxy, mainly waxy and starchy. These differ mainly in their starch content. The more starch a potato has, the looser it becomes during preparation. In other words, starchy varieties disintegrate rather than less starchy ones. Waxy potatoes are more compact and firm to the bite. Starchy varieties like to disintegrate and are rather soft in texture. Predominantly waxy potatoes lie somewhere in between.
Which variety is perfect for baked potatoes? Yes, the starchy ones.
With the right choice of potato, you already have half the battle. You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to preparing the potatoes. You can either wrap them up, rub them with oil or just put them on the baking sheet naked. If you decide to use the wrapping method, you should prick the potatoes several times with a fork beforehand.
If a knife or fork penetrates the potato peel slightly and the inside is soft, the potato is ready to eat.
sustainable preparation method
Potatoes are often wrapped in aluminium foil, especially for grilling. This is neither particularly tingling for our health, nor sustainable. For the extraction of the aluminium foil raw material bauxite, rainforest is cut down. Not to mention the amount of water required for aluminium production. During the cooking process, aluminium can also infuse from the foil into our food, especially in combination with acids. The effects of the metal on our health are still uncertain, but there may be a connection between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease. One thing is clear, you need healthier and more environmentally friendly alternatives! But which ones exist?
Here is a small list for more sustainable options:
- banana leaves
- corn leaves
- vegetable leaves, especially of cabbage species
- reusable bio-film
- reusable baking paper
- grilling boards, racks and bowls
Entscheide dich dir und der Umwelt zuliebe für eine dieser Öko-Alternativen!
Baked potatoes in record time using meal prep
You probably already know that I am a big fan of meal prep as a reader of my blog. I like to take a little time once a week, mostly on Sunday, to prepare for the next week. Preparing the ingredients makes cooking during the week a lot easier, we save time and make sure that we always eat balanced and healthy. If you are interested, I would be happy to write a detailed blog post on this topic and show you how we integrate meal prep into our daily lives.
But now back to the baked potato with herb quark. What is it with meal prep? Ok, I won’t keep you on the torture any longer. The situation is as follows; baked potatoes are not prepared quickly. Depending on the size of the potato, it can take up to 60 minutes for it to completely cook. Let’s be honest, how often do you have time for this during the week? Exactly! And this is where meal prep comes into the game!
Simply boil the potatoes on a weekday that suits you well, let them cool down and store them in an airtight container. They can easily be kept up to 4 days. At the end of the day you just have to put them in the preheated oven. Voilà, within 10-15 minutes the baked potato is on the table. Ingenious, isn’t it?
You can also prepare the herb curd in advance and keep it cool in a mason jar. Personally, I like my quark fresh. And since this recipe only takes 5 minutes of your time, it shouldn’t be too much of an imposition.
herb quark goes vegan
Nowadays there is a vegan alternative for practically everything, including quark. So nothing stands in the way of vegan herb curd. You will find everything you need in the recipe below.
The fact is, however, that not everyone lives in a big city with an extensive assortment of vegan substitutes. You belong to this fraction? Only a village shop nearby? The nearest supermarket a little further away? No problem, you can also make your own quark at home. For example, from nuts or homemade vegetable yoghurt.
For this recipe I used a bought substitute product, but I don’t want to rule out that there will be a selfmade recipe here on the blog. I’ve wanted to make yoghurt, cheese, curd cheese and sour cream myself for a long time. In general, I want to do a lot more myself so that there is less waste. But it is also important to me to create recipes that interest you. Write me in the comments which homemade substitute products would interest you the most! For example, in my free ebook you can find a recipe for homemade hazelnut milk.
smashed potatoes – the trendy alternative to baked potatoes
If you ever find yourself in a situation where the baked potato isn’t fancy enough for you, just try some smashed potatoes. The smashed potato is the young and trendy sister of the baked potato and is being hyped on all social medica channels.
You have no idea what a smashed potato is? It is a crushed potato fried in the oven. A recipe with this delicious chimichurri marinade can be found below. The principle is the same here as well: precook the potatoes on any day, keep them airtight and cool, crush them on the desired day and bake them in the oven. For smashed potatoes, by the way, it is mainly waxy potatoes that are best. Since mashed potatoes only taste really good when they are crispy, they need a little longer in the oven. That’s why precooking the potatoes is all the more worthwhile. By the way, we love making these if we have a few amount of cooked potato leftovers that are not enough for gratin, tart or tortilla.
And again this post has become much longer than planned. I hope it was helpful and otherwise just write your questions and comments in the comments.
See you soon,
your Sarah
Baked potatoes with vegan herb quark
Ingredients
- 2 large boiled potatoes unpeeled, starchy, organic
- 50 g frozen peas organic
vegan herb quark
- 200 g vegan curd organic
- 70 g soy yoghurt optional just to make the curd thinner, organic
- 1 bunch of chives organic
- 1/2 bunch of parsley organic
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt organic
- 3 tsp herb butter spice mix by Würzmeister, organic
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius.
- Place the boiled potatoes on a baking tray and bake in the oven until warm. About 10 to 15 minutes. If you like it crispier, you can leave them in the oven longer until the skin blisters. Alternatively you can use uncooked potatoes. These need about 40-60 minutes in the oven.
- Rinse fresh herbs under running water, drain and chop finely shortly before serving the baked potatoes.
- Mix the chopped herbs with all other ingredients for the herb quark.
- Take the baked potato out of the oven, cut it open and serve it warm with the herb quark.
- Bring to the boil water in a pan, cook froozen peas for 2 minutes in the water. Drain water, refresh with cold water and sprinkle over the potatoes.
Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 500 g boiled potatoes mainly firm cooking, unpeeled, organic
- sea salt organic
- freshly ground pepper organic
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220° Celsius.
- Crush the boiled potatoes with a potato masher or fork.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the mashed potatoes on it. Sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes until the potatoes are really crispy.
- Serve warm with fresh pesto, herb butter, herb quark or chimichurri.